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January 2007
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"Live out of your imagination, not your history."

-Stephen Covey

(click image for training tables!)

No accounting for design?
”It's the design world's dirty little secret”, according to the February issue of Fast Company. Despite the growing consensus that "good design is good business," most companies lack objective financial metrics to help them calculate whether increased investment in design will, in fact, generate increased profits. Does it matter? Chuck Jones, Whirlpool's design chief, certainly thinks so.

Two years ago, Jones made a pitch to add some injection-molded ornamentation to a KitchenAid refrigerator's redesign, which would have added about $5 to the per-unit cost. The company's resource-allocation team asked him to estimate the return on investment, but Jones couldn't produce the numbers to make such a forecast. As a result, he was forced to fall back on a rationale that was simultaneously elitist and lame: Trust me. I'm a designer.

Trust me. I'm a designer. That argument didn't fly.

Defeated, Jones resolved to improve on what he dubbed his "Las Vegas approach" to investing in design, "where you're basically asking people to roll the dice and hope for the best." As a first step, he surveyed 15 "design-centric" companies, including BMW, Nike, and Nokia. To his surprise, few had a system for forecasting return on design. Most simply based future investments on past performance. "No one," Jones says, "had really figured this stuff out."

The reasons are twofold according to the complete article. Read it to see how Whirlpool is accounting for design!

A new standard
Westin-Nielsen has made a minor change in the silver powder standard metal finish for their chairs. The new coating features a brighter finish, increased durability and can be replicated consistently.

  • Sita
  • Kayla
  • Mardi
  • Zipp

Need a sample of the new standard silver powder coat? Please respond to this webletter and it will be sent upon request.

Tough Luxe
Joseph Noble’s textiles are classic, highlighting a contemporary style and relaxed attitude. His stunning collection introduced earlier this year, some priced below $40 a yard, can be found in their online media center. There you can also order samples or download photos for presentations.

Click below to see the new collection and find complete instructions on how to download photos in three resolutions to suit your every need!

Design at its best - just add inspiration
Four times a year, Chicago-based Inventables sends A-list companies such as Boeing, Motorola, and Nike a package of 20 gizmos with "unexpected properties”. The idea is to inspire innovative thinking by giving inventors unusual technologies and suggesting various applications, labeled a "step," "stretch," or "leap," depending on their feasibility. Here's a peek inside the Inventables DesignAid kit, the odd but thought-provoking secret weapon of great designers.

All the best,

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Bill Meyer
Contract Specialities, Inc. (CSI)

phone: 954-389-1295

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